Northern Ireland

Bang-bang, bling-bling

How paramilitaries in Northern Ireland spend their money

“DORIS DAY” is the nickname of Jim Gray, one of Northern Ireland's top loyalist (Protestant) paramilitaries, a “brigadier” in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). The nickname was prompted by his bleached blond hair, year-round tan, fondness for gold jewellery and clothes in pastel shades of pink and blue.

Last month, the UDA ousted Mr Gray from its leadership, claiming that his behaviour (his dress sense was not mentioned) hurt their image. At first sight, that seems odd: a gang whose political activity has long been eclipsed by its main lines of business—selling drugs and running prostitution rackets—might seem to have little reputation to damage.

But such concern for appearances is a sign of changing times in Northern Ireland. Government attacks on paramilitaries' criminally acquired wealth have begun to bite. A week after he was ditched from the UDA's leadership, Mr Gray was arrested on his way out of the country with a banker's draft for €10,000. Mr Gray and a prominent Belfast estate agent soon found themselves in court charged with money-laundering offences. Other investigations have seen well-appointed homes, speedboats and a flat on the Côte d'Azur seized by the authorities.

The misuse of state cash that helped festoon some of the provinces' thickest necks and wrists with heavy gold necklaces and bracelets has also been checked. Genuine community activists (ie, those not fronting for paramilitary gangs) have been telling the government for years that money pumped into regeneration schemes invariably ends up being trousered by gangsters.

The Northern Ireland Office finally seems to have spotted its mistake. Since last December's bank robbery, which netted the IRA £26m, criminal justice authorities on both sides of the border have been putting paramilitaries' business activities under intense scrutiny. The IRA's money-laundering operations in Ireland are now the subject of a prolonged investigation and in the past year the British Treasury has seized more than £6m in assets, mainly from loyalist paramilitaries, in Northern Ireland.

Mr Gray is just the latest loyalist figure to see his fortunes turn. His one-time ally, the former UDA leader Johnny Adair, who rejoiced in the nickname “Mad Dog” because of his violent short temper, is now living in Bolton in north-west England with his family after a coup in the organisation. In his home district of the Shankill, he would occasionally be seen with heavily tattooed followers freshening up the garish red, white and blue murals. But the Assets Recovery Agency, a government outfit that hunts down criminal cash, has belatedly begun to make inroads into the Adair enterprises, and with their leaders away, the gangs now seem to be more open to prosecution.

Mr Adair, however, says he will be back. To the relief of the police in Bolton, who last year convicted his son of drug offences, he recently promised to go home to Belfast when he thinks himself safe from enemies and former friends. But his return is not necessarily imminent. “Rome,” he says, “was not built in a week.”